Shadow and Flame
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: Long was he hailed as the strongest. The most ruthless. The most efficient, and also perhaps, the only one. Now, how will he cope with betrayal, and the uncertainty of knowing that he alone must revive his lost people? AU! NarutoxHarem! Avatar Crossover!
1. Betrayal

**A/N: Dang blast it! This is what I bloody get for watching Avatar, I come up with this crazy brilliant Idea! Pairings could be anything, from NarutoxAzula, NarutoxToph, or even-if I'm tempted, the more traditional NarutoxHinata. Yeah, so I just happened upon the Avatar movie today, and, well, I simply could not help myself! You'll have to guess when and where this takes place, though it should be obvious so for now, enjoy the AU, read, review, and, above all...**

**ENJOY!**

_Shadow and Flame_

Power had its privileges, and they were many.

Power gave you strength. Strength gave you the right to hold sway over the weak. To hold sway was to dominate. _Command._ The right to command power gave you the right to do as you pleased. In turn, that granted you access, privelige, and sometimes, if you were truly cunning, access to techniques that could be considered downright arcane. It was the promise of such a technique that had drawn his ancestors, here, to the very doorstep of the fire nation, all those years ago.

Now, fifty-something years later, one of their descendants had at last mastered the technique that they had so coveted. He'd taken this technique and raised it an entirely new level, bringing it to a height of mastery so prodigous, that few even new about it. He emerged now from the shadows of his chamber and disrobed from the waist upward; now barechested as he strode into a dimly illuminated portion of the arena.

He was a handsome fellow, if intense. His blond hair was disheveled, his blue eyes intelligent, his features balanced. Whisker marks tripled each cheek, cheeks that had once dimpled with a constantly bright and enthused grin; no matter the situation or mission. Now, he was intense. His face had hardened, his visage freed of the baby fat that had cursed him in his younger years. Chiseled and nigh on expressionless, that face bore a series of angry red lines from left ear to right, drooping down his chin and neck, twirled toward the upper region of his chest.

Most would have cringed away from such a sight, such a diminishing of a face that had once been handsome; and was now only slightly less so. It looked as though some great creature of the darkness had slashed the youth across the face, miracuously missing both eyes, yet leaving his face forever marked with those thin streaks of tissue that would never return to their former glory.

He bore these scars with pride.

They were wounds that he had gained during his training, wounds that symbolized his honor, his spirt. They were nothing at all like the hideous wound that dealt to the famed banished prince Zuko. Fire Lord Ozai had been right to strike his son, even moreso to banish him. Such a coward, the boy had been. For a moment, the youth's rage flared too inhuman heights, igniting the torces placed about; creating a spectacular bonefire in testament to his glory. Then he calmed himself. No. No, it did notmatter. Friend or no the prince would have surely failed to master this technique.

A technique that not eve the so-called avatar could hope to perform. Briefly, he allowed a sense of pride to swell within his chest. Briefly. Then he cast it off, alongside the rest of his many emotions-sadness, joy, grief, lust, indignation-and procceeded to begin anew where last he'd been left off yesterday.

He exhaled heavily, and began.

The adolescent stooped; his shoulders hunching as he bent low to the ground. His fingers clenched into claws as he swept them across the floor, the many shadows created to be cast by the premature light of the torches. And then, the most miraculous of things occurred. The shadows began to _bend._ Not so much as in accordance to the movements of their master, but in ways that were entirely unnatural.

They shifted and swirled around him in tendrils of darkness, ebbing and flowing, waxing and waning as they tugged themselves away from his form, then his feet, then the floor itself. As one entity, they reared up like a great serpent, coiling and hissing in the dim light of the torches. He cast his hands out, and the best obeyed; splintering into a thousand whips of blackness, each one closing around one of the torches like a great vice.

He flexed his arms and, like the extensions of his will that they were, the hands of darkness crushed the beacons of light that littered the arena. He clapped and yet another set ignited, only to be utterly eviscerated by the cords of the void. He laughed; it was a deep, throaty sound as he lashed out again and again _and again_, savaging the floors beneath him until at last ruination surrounded him.

_Clap._

At least, sweat beading from his brow, he paused. A steady _clap-clap-clap_ had begun to reach his ears, coming from the direction of the stairwell that he had descended only a few hours ago. He half turned, a blood-red iris reappearing over his shoulder for the time being. Satisfied that no one was watching, he flexed both hands outward summoning the shadows to himself for the final time.

They pooled beneath him, reforming into the silhouette that was his shadow. It wavered for a moment, then stilled, flexing its arms in mimicry of its masters movements once more. Contented in his arcane bending efforts, he turned away from the staircase, presenting his bare back to the approaching interloper. Whomever they were, he would not honor only one such being with a response, and no other.

"Flawless as ever, I see." She didn't strike him as the sort of woman who needed to raise her voice to make a point. But a point she had made and so he acknowledged it with a nod and a bow, but nothing more.

"M'lady." He didn't dare turn; because he'd already seen her. And his eyes did not do her justice. Perhaps nothing could. Sapphire met amber in that instant and she smiled, a brief quirk of the lips that wasn't quite a sneer, but nor was it a grin. Yet another one of the many quirks that he so very much loved about his mistress. _Mistress._ Never had it occurred to him that he, her right hand, might every dare to address her by such a term.

She descended the flight of steps, black strands of hair streaming out behind her. She was wearing a voluminous dark blue nightgown, it looked as expensively extravagant as her day wear. He smiled at her politely and then continued his regiment until she had reached the final step in the set of stairs. Once he was satisfied that she had waited long enough, he ceased his brutal routine.

He stood woodenly, not taking enough care. He allowed himself to drink deep the scent of her perfume, to take in her form with the full entirety of his gaze. She paused night but a few feet from him, apparently waiting for him to clear the remaining distance between them. He didn't bother to put on his robe, such was the sweat glistening from the chiseled muscle; attained through these long hours of torment.

"To what do I owe this honor?" He bowed, and when next he had the privelige of greeting her gaze, he could see the faint emotion of amusement shining within. Such was the routine they had established. It never hurt to be coy where she was concerned, but the thrill of dancing on the edge of danger was simply too thrilling to resist. She laughed in turn, and in that instant he knew that he'd strayed a tad too far.

"You owe me no honor, Naruto." She shook her head, but that gleam of warning was still there in her eyes. She'd seen him and she'd seen his disrespect. Once, she might have rebuked him_-visciously-_for such a grievous infraction. Today, she did not. And he wondered why. Either she was greatly pleased, or he'd been unable to gleam the true meaning from her eyes. Regardless, she didn't seem to mind.

It was acceptable...

_...this time._

Here, in this enclosed space, he would practice for days on end. Without food, without water. His body had long since forsaken the needs of the mortal realm. Save for one. In the sparse second that it took for the blond to recognize the approaching silhouette, his composure dropped somewhat. He smiled; it was a warm, gentle grin. Then he' swept her into his arms and proceeded to kiss her breathless while the world fell away from them for a moment.

_Oh, lord, her lips felt good._

"Come." She beckoned, pulling away from him on a sudden. "There's something I wish to discuss with you."

Naruto blinked.

"As you wish, M'lady."

"Oh, and Naruto?"

"Ye-_mmph!"_

Soft yet firm, her lips pressed against his for what felt like an eternity of repressed passion. She silencde him with her lips, leaving his sentence unspoken as she melted into his embrace and stayed there. He held her like that for a moment, one arm dipped into her waist, the other caressing her thigh and pulling her closer. She whimpered but once, a soft, sibilant sound, that almost emerged as a planitive whine as he tasted her tongue against his.

He broke the kiss seconds later, his lips close enough to brush across hers as he spoke:

"After, then?" He inquired genially, not at all surprised by such an abrupt eruption of passion. Such bursts of emotion whether ill-tempered or otherwise were common around her. The key was learning to avoid the former and embrace the latter. He was quite proud of himself in that regard. Not quite arrogant about it, but enough to be self-assured. After all, he had the crown princess of the fire nation as his lover, and truly, what more could a man ask for in a woman?

_"After." _She all but purred.

After, indeed.

She took him by the hand and guided him to her chambers. He let her lead him onward, winding their way through the halls until at last they came to a final, ornate door. She pushed it aside with one hand and let him inward with the other, her lips trailing across his for the briefest of moments. Then she led him to the bed, her fingers trailing across his chest with such a longing that it set his heart aching all over.

"Come here." She whispered.

He didn't resist as she pulled him down. That, is, until her lips found the nape of his neck, and began to trail a series of slow, delicate kisses across his jawline. The result was truly instantaneous and practically violent in its nature and tempestousness.

His response was immediate, and it was pleasing, and it came with such speed that she couldn't help but wonder if he'd resorted to using his ability. Naruto _grabbed _her and flipped her onto the bed next to him. He was strong and so quick, there was no chance for resistance. Azula gawped up at him, lips parted in disbelief at the sudden reversal. She'd forgotten all about that newfound speed actually, and now it cost her most dear. He pushed past her flailing hands and kissed her neck and then lower on her neck and then he was pulling down on the bra she'd gone to all the trouble of wearing on and her hands weren't flailing anymore and his lips-

"Ah!" Azula gasped and rolled out of his arms before he could find the clasp of her strapping. "Wait!" She cleared her throat, took a deep, measured breath, then spoke again this time softer, much softer as the warmth of her bodise pressed itself into his back.

"Wait." She whispered. "Not just yet, my love."

He let her go, watched her go, straddling him for a moment as she delivered him a brief peck on the cheek.

"Dress yourself." She murmurred. "I have an assignment for you."

"As you wish."

Naruto flopped back onto the bed and Azula pretended to look for her gown while she admired the muscles of his bare torso. It didn't take much of an imagination to picture what thoughts must've been rustling around in her head. She watched him wander around the room recoverin his belongings, moving with the same speed and dexterity that she had always envied. Quick and sure in his steps, a stark contrast to the bumbling brazen boy he'd been years ago; a sentiment he suddenly felt tenfold with her eyes boring into his back.

She sat there for a long moment before she finally spoke.

"Its nearly time."

"For?" He ventured quietly.

"You know." Azula answered.

"I'd know I'd like to hear you say it aloud." Naruto pressed, indignant at her sudden lack of trust.

"To assasinate my father."

He stood silent for an even longer moment, gathering his self-control and centering himself in the room. And with good reason. Ambition stirred in him: he pictured himself at her side, the two of them striking down the fire lord, together, as he had imagined it many times down the years. He saw himself in regal attire as Azula became the Fire Lord and assumed the mantle of the four nations and all the other lands under one rule. What new sights awaited them! What challenges and aspirations!

But his training demanded a careful balance between the lust for power and self-denial. Control was paramount, as in all things. He wanted to present the best possible face to his mistress, lest once again the attainment of his dreams be denied. Instead, he peered back at the horizon and the window made of fireglass. Below lay the Fire Nation, in all of its glorious splendor. Someday-no, _today_ it would all be theirs.

"Is anything the matter?" asked Azula from her familair position at his shoulder.

"Nothing at all." He said.

Straightening his shoulders, he waved a hand. His shadow mimed the movement flawlessly as ever. Suppressing a smile he strode confidently back toward the bed, his boots ringing out against the metal floor, echoing through the familair chamber. He sat beside her and took her hand within his own. She squeezed it and smiled, a rare, tender one that had become increasingly rare as of late.

She guided his gaze out toward the horizon. The red sun glared back through the viewport, but there was something new in that vista: a fleet of ships and support craft clustered around the capital like carrion. His hear thudded painfully within his chest when he saw the symbol each of them bore; the distinctive, trademark flame of the Fire Lord himself, and his own, personal fleet.

Could it possibly be...?

Azula didn't turn.

"The Fire Lord's fleet has arrived."

"You lured him here." Naruto could hear the excitement in his voice. "When do we strike?"

Azula smiled, and Naruto felt a quickening in his throat.

"Soon, my love."

Moving in front of his mistress to get a look out the viewport, he pressed his palm against the thick glass and smiled. _Destiny._ At long last, after all these years, they were so, very very close. Closer than they had ever been before. This was it. This was the moment. The reason he'd forsaken all of his childhood. The reason he had left that slave girl behind, in the care of his uncle. This. Was. It. The driving force behind his creation of what would someday be called Shadow Bending.

The Fire Lord was here, and he was about to breathe his last.

"Darling?" There was no warning in his lover's voice, no hint at all of what was to come. Naruto blinked. Darling? He half-expected one final kiss, one last passionate embrace, before the Fire Lord Ozai arrived. A toast, perhaps. Something to commemorate their long lasting love, life, and partnership. These were the things that he had thought to find when he turned to find the face of Azula mere inches from his own.

Instead, he found something else.

That was the problem with about being all-powerful. Sometimes you forgot about the small things. Sometimes the small things brought your entire life crashing down around your ears. Such was the case now, as the firebender registered a blur of motion in his peripheal vision. With an unexpected snap-hiss, blue flames encased Azula's hands. He opened his mouth to protest, but had barely begun to turn when his lover's hand stabbed through his back. His eyes widened in shock at the sight of the hole protruding from his stomach.

The pain was unbearable, much worse than he had ever imagined it would be. Not that he'd ever imagined himself being impaled by the woman he'd come to call his only friend in an otherwise hostile and rigid environment. It was like no pain he'd ever felt before and Naruto reeled away from it. Rather, he tried to. That was before her other hand came up and pressed two fingers into his left shoulder.

He had only an instant to recognize her stance before a white-blue bolt seared through that shoulder. Naruto screamed. If the first attack had been painful than this, _this_ was excruciating. Pain seeped from his every pore, speckling black spots before his vision while he struggled to blot it out. He mimed the words but nothing came; all that emerged from his throaty was a dusty, hollow rasp.

"Sorry, dear." Azula had a way of lowering her head slightly then straightening up as if she were a dragon. It was most impressive. It was one of the things he'd always loved the most about her. She could be vain and fickle one moment, ever the hardened, cunning warrior, and the next, she could be something else entirely. Whenever they might find a moment of solace, of comfort together, she could be so, so much more. During those times, locked away in the confines of her chambers, Azule could be soft. She could be gentle, kind, loving, and oh so very yielding.

"This hurts me more than it hurts you." Azula laughed, _laughed_ and didn't seem to mean it at all. "Really, it does."

And then there were times like this, right now, when she surprised him completely. As he watched his life-blood leave him, he couldn't help but wonder. _Why, my love?_ Where have I gone wrong? He'd but nothing but faithful to her. Where had he failed to show her his loyalty? Day by day, from the time they were both children, he'd trained with her. Day by day, he'd felt his love for her grow strong, stronger, and stronger still. Until at last, he'd professed his feelings to her.

That had been the day of Zuko's banishment. He hadn't known of course. He'd far to busy training then, not only to hone his technique, but to somehow loosen the knots in his own tongue that threatened to strangulate him whenver he was in her glorious prescence. Now, his tongue was tied, but not from confusion or a-lack-thereof. He watched her, pain twisting his features into a rictus of fury. There was nothing he could do to stop this terrible reversal.

He could not lift a hand against Azula, who had trained and grown with him his entire life. But he would not die silent.

"Why?" He rasped weakly, his voice tumbling to a lower pitch as he felt her fingertips push through the wound, inflaming his internal organs. He would not die from a wound such as this. He refused to die, refused to pass on, until he had some measure of closure, of solace, of knowing why that he had been so brutally and irrevocably betrayed by the one woman he'd loved the most.

"Sorry darling." Her lips caressed his ear for the briefest of moments, lingering there, almost in regret. "But...

**"!"**

"But I'm afraid you've outlived your usefulness to me." With that, she violently removed her hand from his abdomen. Her straightened, rigid fingers withdrew with a wet sickly squelching sound, denying him the support needed to stand. The doors whooshed open at that very instant, but he hadn't the strength to lift his head. With a choked scream, he fell to his knees. Darkness threatened to spread around his vision but he resisted it with all of his strength. Despair likewise. This had to be a terrible mistake. It couldn't be happening.

His lover loomed over him, studying him impassively from behind an emotionless facade. The sound of footsteps clouded his vision as he flopped toward the glass window that outline the fire nation and the evening sun, thrusting its great reddened spikes just beyond the horizon. Below him lay the sea. Before him, as he watched with trepidation and something felt a great deal like fear through the doors, emerged the man he had been meant to murder.

"What is thy bidding, father?" Azula asked with a sickly sweet smile.

"You have forgotten your place, daughter." The Fire Lord's tone was at the same time harsh and hypnotic. "By conspiring with this boy you have betrayed me. One claw-like hand reached out from the sleeve of his voluminous cloak. "Now, you will kill him, or I will destroy you both."

"What?"

Fire Lord Ozai looked down upon the man who had been sent to kill him, and smiled. Smiled, as he beheld the one threat to his regime other than the avatar. The one entity that he might have, under other circumstances, set loose upon said boy for the sake of entertainment.

_Entertainment._

_'No.'_ Naruto realized with a horrific slowness._ 'No. No. No!'_

"We were...going to destroy the fire lord!" he gasped, struggling to stand but failing. The darkness encroached further. "Together we can defeat him!"

"Do it now, daughter!" Insisted fire lord Ozai. "Strike him down and prove your loyalty to me!"

Azula looked from her father to her lover as though weighing up two very heavy alternatives. Then she lashed out with a burst of fire so intense that it nearly boiled the flesh from Naruto's bones and sent him crashing into the glass viewport behind him. With a piercing sound, it cracked.

"Yes, Azula!" The Firelord crowed. "Kill him! Kill him!"

Naruto was gripped tightly in the throes of agony and despair. Even if he could have brought himself to fight back, even if he wanted to, it was impossible. Blood dribbled from the first wound that Azula had dealt him, and the second was already forcing his vision to dim around the edges. He was gripped tightly within another blast of flame, this one vaguely more gentle than the first, and nowhere near as scathing.

For a faint instant, Naruto thought Azula had changed her mind and decided to defy her father after all. But then he was hurled back at the vista with all the force of a small meteor. The viewport shattered outward in a huge explosion sucking him outward before he could even scream. His final cry one of misery and loss; of rage and impotency and despair, ultimately went unheard as he plunged into the waters below.

His wounds screamed against the salt of the water and they stung as he sank to the depths.

He didn't care.

Darkness and despair closed in again and he no longer tried to fight them. There was no point. He'd been used, betrayed, and discarded like trash. Yes, that was what he was, trash. Utterly uselessl, worthless, unable to think for himself, trash. His spirits plummeted even faster than his already sinking form. And why shouldn't they? The one person whom he had trust the most had, literally, stabbed him in the back. He had nothing left to live for anymore and it...Just. Wasn't. _Fair._

It was all over...

...wasn't it?

"Hey!"

Something struck the side of his head.

_Not gently._

And then there was only blessed blackness.

**A/N: Well, now, I wonder who rescued our favorite blond? I suppose you'll have to keep reviewing until the chapter, or, until my eyeballs wither and fall out...although, being a skeleton, I have no eyeballs! SKULL JOOOOOOKE! YOHOHOHO!**


	2. Warmed Earth

**A/N: Dang blast it! This is what I bloody get for watching Avatar, I come up with this crazy brilliant Idea! Pairings could be anything, from NarutoxAzula, NarutoxToph, or even-if I'm tempted, the more traditional NarutoxHinata. Yeah, so I just happened upon the Avatar movie, and, while I deplor its appaling lack of coherency with the actual show, I simply could not help myself from writing a ficlet of my own! This chapter though short, should make quite obvious when and where this takes place, so enjoy the AU, read, review, and, above all...**

**ENJOY!**

_Warmed Earth_

It came as less a surprise, more a relief, when he finally awoke.

At first, anyway.

His first clue that he had returned from the land of the dead came when darkness truly fell. The visions evaporated, and the voices went with them. For a very welcome period, there was nothing to see or hear, or even think. He could just rest, and be. It was a blessed time, free from thought and fear and dissent and he embraced it for as long as he could, fearing that it might somehow slip through his fingers.

Then new noises began to intrude on the peaceful silence: the whirring of rustling cloth, low-pitched whispers and murmurrs from someone, a fizzing, spitting noise that could have been running water, and other sounds that had no place in his serenity. His heart rose at the sound of a voice rising above the others. The sound of sobbing. Then what might have been mistaken for tears upon his cheeks; the faint sticking point between each cycle was horribly familair.

_'Where am I?'_

Naruto raged against invisible bonds to move limbs he couldn't feel. The babble of noises faded for a moment, then returned, this time with light and sensation accompanying it. A needle swelled before his vision, encompassing his entire existence in a single instant. Then the rest of the world swam dizzyingly into focus. He was sprawled amongst a many sheets, in a bed, in a room, that he did not recognize, even as he shook off the last dredges of the eerie phantasm.

A faint, earthy smell, permeated the air.

There were no fumes to be found here. Nor was the scent of soot and smoke immediately prevalent. Having been born and raised into the Fire Nation, not only did he find the lack of flames uncomfortable, but downright disconcerting. His world was one of fury and fire; built from the ground up, brick by bitter brick. His was a realm that forged from a war of wrath and vengeance and created solely for destruction.

Azula's betrayal had changed all that.

He was in a different world now, of this he was certain. This was not the Fire Nation. Of this he was also certain. Warm sunlight sparkled through the window and settled upon his face, lending the room an aura of peace. Coupled with soothing aroma exuded by this room, the scene was as foreign to him as the ocean was to his flames. He flexed his fingers weakly, willing the strength to return to them; and eventually, they obeyed.

Relieved that he still had use of his hands, Naruto exhaled heavily. Then he inhaled sharply. He breathed; in and out and focused the energy, his _chi, _an ability that all benders posessed deep within themselves. He gathered this energy and harnessed it, permitting the repressed force to ebb and flow within his veins at will; expanding and contracting with every breath until they reached their climax.

_There._

He reached to the flame within him and drew it outward. Manifested it, lent it physical and material form.

Once, he'd been forced to do so, under durress. He'd nearly boiled his own skin off, such had been his haste. Now, there was no voice within his head, no poking and prodding from his teacher to let the hatred and fury build within him until it formed a malevolent malestrom. Instead he relaxed, and simply let it be. He allowed the warmth to pervade him, driving all semblance of the cold from his skin and breaking it out into gooseflesh.

_Come,_ he urged cajolling the energies within him, calling them forth with all the haste and rapidity of a sloth. They came, slowly, joyfully. It was a slow process, but it left him warm and snug within his skin, his purpose accomplished, his task complete. He had survived. He, against all odds, against the betrayal that had threatened to shatter his life and leave him in shambles, was alive.

He was all that remained.

Having calmed the chaotic elements within him, he cupped his hands and spread them outward, fingers splayed. His body was warmed now; all that remained was to find that inner calm he'd always so fervently sought. He tugged at the energies anew, drawing them out, hardening, focusing, lending them physical form from the spirit realm. The first sign that he had succeeded came in the form of an ecletic _snap-hiss,_ gracing his ears.

_Vrrrrrrrrrm..._

Crackling and spitting, black embers, smoking tendrils of shadow and flame, leapt from the tips of his fingers. Laying eyes upon them for only the second time in his life, Naruto permitted himself a moment of pride, of deep, everlasting satisfaction. This was firebending at its greatest. He peered into them with simplistic intent, seeking the deep peace and cleansing solace that he'd often found by staring into the flames.

"Oh, are you awake?"

**"!"**

A voice like liquid water jolted him forth from his thoughts and ruined everything.

Irate, Naruto rounded on the speaker, his concentration shattered, his power lost. The flames within his fist turned to ash and smoldered away from him harmlessly, little more than soot by the time they'd reached the floor. For a moment, he allowed his shoulders to sag. So close! He'd been a hairsbreadth away from achieving true mastery over his element, firebending, and, molding it with the arcane art known only to him; the art of shadowbending.

Now, he would have to wait hours before he could enter that state again. Days, even, if he was truly unlucky. Regardless, our young firebending blond was none too pleased by the sudden interruption, nor did he care for the intentions behind it.

"Yes, I'm quite-**!" **

He brought the full weight of his wrath to bear on them, ready to remark that he was in fact, wide awake. Then he saw whom had spoken and words fell away from him. He took in large, clear eyes, perfectly coifed hair, clear skin, full lips narrow waist, and lean, firm curves. He blinked away the cobwebs as he peered at her, this figure he hadn't seen before and immediately wished he had.

A girl.

She was short, yet lithe, her curves almost boyish, but her smile was all milk and kindness.

Naruto saw the smile and smiled back. For someone who had been born and raised in the Fire Nation for his entire life, he'd thought he'd seen all the beautiful women that a life like his had to offer. He'd been terribly, terribly wrong. She looked fantastic. Raven black spilled down her shoulders, framing a perfect, porcelain white face that probably hadn't seen the light of day for many a month.

Somehow, that fact didn't diminish her beauty in the slightest.

That face stared unerringly at him, with strange eyes that seemed to be both focused and unfocused. Likewise, Naruto found himself staring, his attention drawn now to her garments, a strange mix of cream colored cloth and earth green attire; her dress slim cut to her slim body, tapered at the sleeves in blatant disregard for common fashion, ornate groom ties up the back, and a long expanse of leg exposed that was certainly not traditional but welcome nonetheless.

Truly, she was beautiful.

"Who are you?" He found himself asking, then immediately rergretting the question. "Where am I?"

"Rest assured, you're in the Earth Kingdom." She explained, the smallest of smiles dimpling her cheeks. "And as for who _I_ am, my name is Toph."

"Toph?" Naruto blinked.

"Well, its Toph Bei-Fong actually, but I'd rather you not call me that." Her bare feet padded across the floor, her scowl effectively drumming him into silence. "Just Toph will do and I hope you don't mind that." She finished, still staring at a point somewhere past the young firebender. "Just Toph." She repeated the words with a flat beligerence, as the possibility remained that he might not take her name to heart. "And now, its time for me to change your bandages."

"Actually...wait, what're you**_uuurgh!"_**

She came a few steps forward and then knelt before him, her fingers splayed unerringly, laying themselves upon his chest. A searing pain raced down his spine, past his stomach and through his knees. Naruto couldn't help it. He crumpled_-doubled-_with a soft groan. Soft hands laid themselves upon his shoulders and held him fast. He lay, there, in her arms and was trapped. Helplessly bound by wave upon wave of mindless, cripppling pain, he prayed for it to end.

"You feel awful." The girl who preferred to be known simply as "Toph" murmurred. Naruto glowered up at her and was made impotent by the pain. It was mind-numbing. Until now, his body, save for his hands and face, hadn't responded properly. They refused to respond to his commands, possibly bellying the injuries he'd sustained and it was only now that he realized why.

He'd been burned.

_Horribly._

Naruto could feel the scars, such was the pain. He didn't have to seem them, to know that they were there. Despite their painful past together, Azula hadn't shown him any mercy. Somehow, that betrayal hurt far worse than the others. And any lingering sentiment he had for only made things tears stung at his eyes for a terrifying second, then they passed, and the pain abated.

_ At last, it abated._

He lingered there for a moment, gasping for breath.

"Are you alright?" Toph's voice rang out from somewhere above him, once more intruding upon his thoughts.

Naruto made a squelching sound.

"Can't you see that I'm _not-_

Then he saw her eyes and the world dropped away from him. He'd been in too much pain to notice before, but now, something about her gaze struck him as odd. While she'd yet to release him_-for which he was grateful-_he couldn't quite bring himself to believe that it was true.

Her eyes, they were a strange milky white.

Ordinarily, this wouldn't have struck him as odd. What did, however, was the fact that Toph wasn't quite looking at him. Rather she was, but, once again, her eyes seemed to be focused on a point just past him; her head cocked as if listening for any noise or sound or movement. He flicked a hand before her face. Nothing. Not even a blink. Her eye did narrow, however as he straightened himself up at the knees.

"I'm sorry." Suddenly unable to meet her gaze, Naruto averted his eyes. "I didn't know."

"I beg your pardon?" Toph crinkled her nose in confusion.

"That you were...well...

"Blind?" Toph offered obtusely.

"Well, yeah." Naruto offered lamely.

"Well then, I suppose there's something else you should know about me."

"And that is?"

_"This."_

There was no warning in her tone, nothing unexpected. Not even the slightest tell as to what might come. Toph was smiling again, that patient incogorously innocent smile, as she always had. He paid no mind that her hands were abruptly on the floor, nor the fact that she bent and the knees and stood woodenly, not taking enough care. He assume that it meant no threat to him, not as she began to peel the bandages from his chest and dress him with new ones.

He was naive.

Therefore, Naruto was completely unprepared when the earth beneath him decided to _lurch._ One moment the room had been as flat and stale as any other environment that did not house shadow or flame. The next, the ground swelled beneath his feet. He frowned. Then he found his hands and legs trapped, bound with such force that he couldn't even scream or hope to cry out in surprise, let alone struggle.

Instead, Naruto blinked.

"You're an Earthbender." He let the statment hang, unadorned between them. "Aren't you?"

Toph dropped her little facade and smiled wickedly.

"Bingo. And you, fire-boy, are now my prisoner."

Naruto sweatdropped.

_'How did she know?'_

Apparently, he hadn't been quite as discreet as he'd thought.

"What do you want from me?" he asked benignly.

Toph hesitated.

"Whatever information you have on the Fire Lord."

Naruto arched an eyebrow.

"And why, might I ask, would you need to know that?"

"Because we're going to take him down." Toph had not spoken. It was another. Naruto felt his gaze drawn to the nearest sliding door, and his muscles grew taut. A thin jet of flame leaked past his lips in annoyance. That voice, those tattoo's, its couldn't possibly be...

It was then that he saw who had been standing behind the rice paper panel and his eyes grew large and wide with disbelief.

"You're kidding, right?"

Toph smiled.

"Not at all."

And that, was how Uzumaki Naruto met Toph Bei-Fong.

**A/N: Well, now, I wonder how this will go over? Yes I made Toph older, otherwise there wouldn't be much of a romance at all know, would there! I suppose you'll have to keep reviewing until the chapter, or, until my eyeballs wither and fall out...although, being a skeleton, I have no eyeballs! SKULL JOOOOOOKE! YOHOHOHO!**


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